It Could've Been Me
by CreativeGhost
Summary: Childhood friends Sakura and Ino resolve a long running dispute through the most ununual methods, a bet. This little bet then goes on to shape the rest of their lives and affect all those around them. AU.


A.N.: This is the first story I have ever writen. That being said, I hope I wrote it well. First chapter's kind of short as it's a prologue, which is sort of like a backstory before you reach the main story.

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 **Prologue**

11 years is considered to be a long time in a person's life, especially when said person is only 22 at the time. That's half of their life on Earth and to have feelings for someone this long meant that you were definitely in love with that person. This was the logical justification that Sakura and Ino had reached some time ago about their then childhood crush and now love interest Sasuke Uchiha. However, with this realisation stemmed two problems. The first of which was that Sasuke showed no interest in either of them despite the fact that they had openly expressed their feelings for him many a times and second was the fact that they both loved the same guy.

They weren't the only ones. In fact, considering his popularity with the women he could have his pick from the women to be his girlfriend and she would be more than happy to comply but with Sakura and Ino, their chances were better because they interacted with him on a more regular basis. Having studied alongside him in secondary school and then college and finally university meant that they knew more than enough about him and what he liked and didn't like. As a matter of fact, if you asked them, they could tell you so much that they could qualify to be his wife. At least that's how they liked to think.

As for their relationship with one another, Sakura and Ino had been friends in primary school which is a considerable amount of time before they had even met Sasuke. During this time, many adventures took place such as the defeat of a bully, the forging of an alliance of friendship and many daytimes sleeping or eating their favourite food. Despite their many years of friendship and company, they would still fight over Sasuke like cats over hotly disputed territory. Naturally, this caused a strain in their relationship.

Why was all of this becoming an issue now? Having graduated as a class together from Konoha University, Sasuke, Sakura and Ino had all managed to secure jobs in the same company. They were all consultant accountants for a medium sized company which was steadily growing in size. Something to know about Sasuke was that he was very disciplined and came from a very traditional family. Upon completing his degree and acquiring his job at the company, his father had requested that he start looking for a potential wife. Request is a soft word as the choice was either he find someone himself or his father would find someone for him.

That was Sasuke's situation and harbouring a type of resentment for his father's treatment of him but being educated in the same way of life for too long, Sasuke decided that if he was going to make peace with his father and live a good life, he might as well start to look for a wife. Of course, the wife aspect would come later, first he needed a girlfriend but knowing how quick his father liked to speed things along, the prospect of children would soon follow after marriage.

It was then that he may have dropped a few hints at the office, after all he was in the junior position so everyone there was either on the same ranking as him, with a degree of some sort and a stable job, or even higher. This was possibly the worst method to look for a partner but Sasuke knew that it would only be temporary. Just for the time being so he could get his dad off his back and who knows, he might find someone… interesting.

Like forest fire on a hot summer day in a dry forest, the rumour spread that Sasuke was looking for a girlfriend and if the potential was there then maybe more and just like moths attracted to light in the dark of the night, the women flocked to Sasuke.

Among these women were Sakura and Ino. The once childhood friends who stuck by each other for their entire life, the ones who had saved the other countless time, the ones who had been a friend and a consul and an advisor and who promised to never hurt the other were the ones to hurt the other over this man. You could say that the situation escalated quickly with Sakura not wanting to see Ino and vice versa, the once friends were now bitter rivals.

It could've carried on but the issue with this was that the person of their affection seemed to be involved every time to settle a petty dispute which annoyed him to no end. Every time Sakura and Ino would argue about who had the best hair to who would look better with his arms wrapped around them, Sasuke would always be involved as an external judge which in itself wasn't bad but then the incessant wailing of the loser would always ring in his ears along with the whining of why that person wasn't picked. This would be spurned on by the winner gloating about how they had won that challenge although it had very little to do with skill and more to do with genetics and who had more time in the morning before work.

Finally, frustrated to no end, Sasuke ordered that Sakura and Ino sort whatever was going on between them. It was at this point that there was an agreement made between Sakura and Ino but it wasn't a solution to the strain in their friendship, it was a solution to see who was better than the other and who would get with Sasuke. Naturally, it required Sasuke's cooperation for the solution to work. It was a bet and little did they know that this bet would affect them and everyone around them for years to come.

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A.N.: Well that's it for the prologue. It's kind of like the back drop to the main story which will start in the next chapter. I hope you all enjoyed this and if there's any way in which I could improve my writing or the story in any way, please let me know. I'm open to all suggestions and criticism. Until next time.


End file.
